SHACK dwellers from Joe Slovo, Rhawutini and Aloe T informal settlements say they will continue stealing electricity from the municipal grid, even if it cost them their lives.
Thembi Nonzwakazi, of Rhawutini, told EC Premier Oscar Mabuyane and Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality Mayor, Luleka Gubhula, that they’d forcefully connect to the municipal network until the municipality gave them their “democratic right”.
This was when Mabuyane came to Komani to respond to a petition submitted to his office by the Komani Residents Association (KORA) at the Thobi Kula Indoor Sports Centre.
“I will not deny the fact that we connect electricity illegally. And we will continue doing so for as long the municipality fails to provide this essential service,” said Nonzwakazi.
Illegal connections in shacks have resulted in burns and even death, but in Komani this seems a small price to pay for access to electricity.
Agcobile Jezile of Aloe T has uncovered live wires running from a municipal transformer to his shack where he lives with his spouse and three children between the ages of four and nine. Jezile said the connections sometimes produce explosions, but because he needs electricity, he is prepared for any outcome.
“If it means I must die fighting for my right so be it. Safety is the last of my concerns,” he said.
Meanwhile, fights continue to break out between shack dwellers and those residing in neighbourhoods near squatter camps.
Battle lines were recently drawn between the two groups when Aloe T residents trespassed in a house to forcefully connect their shacks from a municipal transformer located inside the yard. The connections resulted in explosions and subsequently power outages in some areas.
Municipal electricians were dispatched to disconnect the shacks but they reconnected themselves.
Electricity theft has been cited as the major contributing factor to the low collection of revenue by the local Enoch Mgijima Municipality.
At some point, the municipality used the services of the police to disconnect those who had illegally connected themselves. But this also stopped and some municipal officials have been accused of having a hand in power theft by reconnecting those who had been disconnected.
